This chapter explores the influential work of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky on cognitive biases, shedding light on how these biases shape human behavior in the context of today's information-rich society. It paves the way for a conversation with linguist Amanda Montel on contemporary irrationality in her book 'The Age of Magical Overthinking'.
Raise your hand if you've ever belittled a stranger online, made a decision based on astrology, or, heaven forbid, fallen for a conspiracy theory. No? Well, then, consider yourself lucky. And if your hand is raised, don't feel bad, because it turns out in our Information Age the cognitive biases that kept us alive a few millennia ago now make us susceptible to bouts of extreme irrationality. How this happened, and what we can do about it, is the subject of a brand new book by linguist Amanda Montell called "The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality."